Written by

Ryan Hagerty

Special to The Daily Journal

There are many superstitions in baseball, like not stepping on the foul line when running out to the field, or the conventional rally cap when trailing late in a game.

For the Buena Senior League All-Star (14-to-16 year-old) baseball team, good fortune came in the form of a lucky coin.

After losing last Friday night’s game and trailing 3-0 in Saturday’s winner-take-all Section 4 championship against Franklin Township, Buena was in dire need of a spark and got one when one of the players on the team picked up a penny in the dugout. The players proceeded to stick the penny to a pole using pine tar and called it their “lucky penny.”

The players touched the charm before heading out to the field every inning and went on to rally for the win, scoring four runs in the seventh inning for a wild 8-4 victory that sent them to the state tournament.

“We all realized that the season was coming down to it and if we didn’t do anything about it that was it,” Buena‘s Cody Jelinek said. “We found that penny, stuck it to the pole, rubbed it every inning, and that’s what got us going.”

Buena will take on the winner of Section 2 in the first round of states at the Franklin Township Little League field Friday at 8 p.m.

Prior to sectionals, Buena breezed through the District 3 tournament, beating the competition by a combined score of 55-6. That momentum carried over, and the team hopes to ride it all the way to a state championship.

Experience can play a huge role in games at states. That’s something that Buena possesses.

The team carries nine 15-year-olds, most of whom played on the Junior League team that won sectionals last year and tasted state tournament competition.

“A lot of these boys that won sectionals last year are here this year,” Buena manager Lou Maldonado said. “They know how it is to lose in states and we know the competition is only going to get better.”

George DiBiase, a member of last year’s Junior League team along with Jelinek, never had a doubt this team would win a sectional title and make an appearance at states. He believes the players’ attitudes will keep them competitive throughout the state tournament.

“I knew as soon as we lost on Friday we were going to come back and win,” DiBiase said. “Being humble is not really a problem for us and we always have faith.”

The competition will only get more difficult as Buena heads into states, and players such as second baseman C.J. Middleton know that they have to stay the course.

“We are going to keep doing what we did all season no matter how tough the competition gets,” Middleton said. “We’re just going to keep playing our game like we did in sectionals.”

Overall, the key to making a run into states, according to Jelinek, is for the team to enjoy the moment and not tense up in pressure situations.

“We just have to keep our chemistry,” Jelinek said. “We are a really loose team and we joke around in tight games to stay loose but we are intense at the same time. Nobody gets on each other too much.”

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